Fifth Wheel
by trigirl89
Summary: The band's in grade 10 and Freddy, Zack, and Frankie are the popular guys. Zack and Frankie have steady girlfriends and Freddy starts feeling like a fifth wheel all the time. Will their friendship prevail over love?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or anything to do with the original movie. A/N: The band's in Grade 10 right now so they're all 15 or turning it soon. This is my first ever fanfic so please R & R!  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Freddy's POV  
  
Freddy Jones hopped off his skateboard as he reached the curb in front of his house. Wrapping his jacket more tightly around him to protect him from the chilly fall air, he picked up his board and walked up the steps to his house. He had just gotten back from one of his best friend's, Frankie, houses. He'd been best friends with Frankie since the fourth grade and now, in their second year of high-school, had earned the reputation of the bad boys on campus. With his other best friend, Zack, they pretty much ruled the lower grades of the school. Every girl wanted them and every guy wanted to be them.  
  
"Glad I got to spend some time alone with just the guys tonight," he thought as he walked up the stairs to his huge room in the attic. Lately he'd felt like a fifth wheel whenever he hung out with Zack and Frankie. They both had steady girlfriends, Claire and Anna, and recently had started doing everything with them. Sometimes he'd bring his closest girl friend, Katie, along whenever they did stuff just so he would have someone to talk to. Everyone thought he should admit to his supposed hidden feelings for Katie and just hook up with her. Problem was he honestly didn't like her that way. He never had. Sure he loved her but it was definitely a friendship kind of love. They'd fooled around a bit before but never seriously and they both knew where their boundaries were.  
  
What Freddy didn't know was that Katie loved Freddy too. Except her love was in a romantic sort of way. Ever since seventh grade she had wanted something more than friendship from him. They'd considered going out in eighth grade but had quickly given up the idea after a week when Freddy realised he was fooling himself into thinking he liked her that way just to have a girl. Since then he'd had plenty of flings with other girls just because he was bored and they all thought he was hot (something about being a drummer in the school's most kick-ass band probably had a lot to do with it...) but he had never had one long-term meaningful relationship that both his best friends were lucky enough to be experiencing right now. It wasn't a lack of commitment on Freddy's part. He had simply never liked any enough to pursue a relationship with them. There had never been a special connection to anyone that he knew he was supposed to feel if it was right.  
  
Freddy pulled off his shirt and his pants so he was dressed in only his boxer shorts that had drumsticks and music notes all over them. He rolled onto his bed and was lying on his back staring calmly at the ceiling when his cell rang. Leaning over to pick it up he saw the caller was Zack.  
  
"What's up man?" came from the other end of the phone when Freddy finally picked up.  
  
"Nothing much here. What do you want though? I just saw you 15 minutes ago."  
  
"Well something's come up since then. I was talking to Claire and she was saying how she noticed you'd been feeling kind of left out lately. So, she's got an idea."  
  
"And this idea would be..."  
  
"She wants you to hang out with us more so you guys can get to know each other better. Well we can hang out with the rest of the gang if you don't want to be all fifth wheel-ish but the point is to become friends."  
  
"Yea I guess that sounds okay... but it better be with the gang cuz I'm sick of always being the odd one out."  
  
"Okay fair enough. So you want to hang out with us tomorrow night?"  
  
"Sure. We can hang here. My parents will be out all night. How many people though?"  
  
"Um... you, me, Claire, Frankie, Anna, Leonard I guess. I think that's it. Oh Claire said something about a couple of her friends starting to feel left out since our relationship's gotten so serious. I forget their names but there's two of them. Mind if they come too?"  
  
"Eight people? I guess that'll be alright. But it's BYOB."  
  
"Deal. Thanks a lot dude. She was sounding pretty concerned about our friends starting to feel left out. I was getting scared was going to take drastic measures."  
  
"No worries. I got your back. So I'll see you guys at 8pm tomorrow then?"  
  
"For sure. Later."  
  
"Bye."  
  
As Freddy turned off his cell for the night he lay back on his bed. What had he gotten himself into now?! Claire and Anna were nice enough but they weren't exactly the type of person he'd choose to be friends with. They weren't into the whole punk rock scene or even sports. Hopefully their friends would be cooler than them. He'd just have to wait until tomorrow and see what they're like. With that thought in his head he drifted off into a deep sleep after his long hard day of rocking. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Freddy's POV  
  
School had started just over a month ago so Freddy was finally getting used to the idea of having to get up at 7am every morning again. The sound of his alarm pierced the quiet in his room and made him wake with a start. He shut it off and just lay there thinking for a minute, hanging in that state midway between sleep and reality. Lazily he got out of bed and walked to his shower in his adjoining bathroom, tripping over piles of CDs and clothes as he went. When he finally got out 15 minutes later, he pulled on his school uniform, rolled up the sleeves, and squeezed a glob of hair gel out from the almost empty tube on his dresser.  
  
Half an hour later with his hair perfectly spiked, Freddy made his way downstairs to the kitchen where he saw their cook had made him waffles with maple syrup and crispy bacon. Gobbling it up in a matter of seconds he grabbed his lunch money from the counter and his skateboard and set off for school.  
  
At 8:20am he finally reached the huge gates of Horace Green Prep (A/N: the band members now go to the senior part of the school which is grades 9-12). The grounds were empty which was no surprise seeing as winter seemed to be coming early this year and it was already 2°C in October.  
  
Once inside the warm school he went to his locker where he stashed his bag and board before making his way to the cafeteria. The caf was where the rest of his gang hung out every day before school in the winter.  
  
"What's up Jonesy?" Zack yelled at him from the other side of the caf.  
  
Freddy coolly walked over to the table Zack was sitting at and saw that it was the usual people: Zack, Claire, Frankie, Anna, and Leonard.  
  
"Not too much Zack Attack. So we're all good for tonight, right?" he replied to Zack's earlier question.  
  
"Yeah it's all working out. One of Claire's friends I told you about has this older brother who said he'd buy some booze for us. Splitting the cost. That ok?"  
  
"Okay cool. Not too much though, eh? I don't want people barfing all over my house."  
  
"Yea, yea. Not too much. I promise."  
  
"So how's everyone else doing?" Freddy asked as he looked around at the others who were all sitting quietly around the table. Well actually Frankie and Anna were quietly making out in the corner but Claire and Leonard were just sitting there.  
  
"I'm not too bad. Excited for tonight though. Apparently these chicks who are friends with Claire and Anna are pretty hot!" Leonard answered.  
  
"Really? Sweet. I was thinking I'd run out of hot girls to mess around with." Freddy responded with the first crack that came into his head.  
  
"Hey! You better not screw around with my friends. They're not exactly the most... nevermind." Claire said trying to look out for her friends without giving away too much.  
  
"What were you going to say?" Freddy was intrigued now.  
  
"Nothing. Just don't make them do anything they'll regret, ok?"  
  
"No problem. Who could regret doing anything with the Spazmeister???"  
  
"I'm not even going to answer that!"  
  
"Chill out you guys!" was Zack's feeble attempt to prevent a full fledged argument between his best friend and his girlfriend. "We'll all hang out together, nothing bad'll happen, it'll all be good, okay? So can we drop this now?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
"I guess."  
  
Just then the warning bell rang signifying that it was 8:40am.  
  
"Crap. Only 5 minutes to get to class."  
  
Frankie and Anna suddenly came apart and got up to leave together. Zack stood up and bent down to kiss Claire goodbye and Leonard and Freddy were already halfway across the room.  
  
On his way out the door, Freddy saw Katie hurrying to her first class. They both had biology together.  
  
"Katie! Wait up!" he called.  
  
"What? Oh hey Freddy!" she said as she spun around looking to see who had called her name. "So what are you doing tonight after practice? Cause I was thinking we could go catch a movie or something."  
  
"Um... sorry but I'm busy already."  
  
"Oh. Doing what?"  
  
"Ah... I have to do this thing... for my parents... by tomorrow... so... yea. I'll be home all night doing that... thing."  
  
"Right... okay then. What about tomorrow then?"  
  
"Yeah sure. It's a date." Freddy said with a wink as they arrived at their biology class.  
  
"Cool," was the only reply he got.  
  
They walked into the room and sat down at their seats next to each other in the back corner of the room where the idiot teacher had decided they should sit. Bad idea. The two ended up talking all class everyday which was probably the reason they were both barely passing the course.  
  
---------- At Lunch ----------  
  
Katie's POV  
  
As Katie walked to into the huge cafeteria she looked around for somewhere to sit. Unlike the rest of the band, she had never really found her "group" of friends so she usually ended up sitting with a different band member and their friends every day. Summer and Laurence had befriended their fellow so- called nerds and now sat with all the history, science, and math clubs everyday. Marta, Eleni, and Michelle had all made the cheerleading squad and were part of the popular bitches group. Katie made it a point to never sit with them. Tomika and Alicia had formed their own group with a couple other talented singers who were pretty much considered band geeks. Then there were Billy, Marco, and Gordon who and made a bunch of new friends. Their group wasn't that popular but wasn't picked on. They just were who they were. Finally, there was Zack, Frankie, Leonard, and Freddy. They were all part of the super popular bad boys group. There were always dozens of girls around them and the "select few" they chose to fool around with were usually part of the popular bitches group.  
  
Today Summer had a free seat next to her so Katie made her way over there. Actually this wasn't too bad. Katie had probably remained the closest with Summer out of all the band members. Well next to Freddy. She had liked him for nearly four years now and thought she always would. They could always tell what the other was thinking or feeling and had a way of knowing what would make the other feel better. Problem was, Freddy tended to treat her like crap as soon as he was in front of his friends. It was like he had a split personality. Really he was a really sweet guy who cared about her but cared too much about what people thought to show that side in public. Most people at school saw him as the bad boy who was just bad enough to have the brand without actually getting into too much trouble.  
  
Katie was about to sit down next to Summer when some other member of her group plopped herself down in the empty seat. Since Summer had her back to Katie, she didn't even see her there and started up an animated conversation with the girl whose name seemed to be Courtney. Sighing, Katie looked around the caf again until she saw an empty seat next to... crap. None other than Freddy. There was nowhere left to sit and she was starting to feel very self-concious randomly standing in the middle of the room so she slowly started crossing the caf to where he sat. 


	3. Chapter 3

wiseoldman: I'm trying to stay away from the whole Freddy/Katie thing but I might put them together for at least a little bit. Joanne: thanks a lot! flirting-with-suicide: lol. Yes I'm sure this is my first fanfic. I'm glad you like it though! flatfoot-92: yah! You were my first reviewer! Well I'll try to update it a lot but I'm really busy with school and stuff right now. I'm aiming for at least once every other day. Hope you can wait that long!  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Freddy's POV  
  
"Hey. Mind if I sit?"  
  
Freddy turned around, looked up and realised Katie had just asked him if she could sit next to him.  
  
"Yeah whatever," was all he said before continuing his conversation with Zack who was on the other side of the table. Katie plopped down next to him looking relieved he said ok and started eating staring sullenly down at her tray.  
  
He felt really bad just blowing her off like that but she wasn't exactly the most popular girl in school and he'd already gotten enough shit from some of his friends for being pretty close with her outside of school. "Oh well," he thought. "I'll make it up to her sometime this weekend."  
  
Just then the bell rang signalling the end of lunch and everyone got up from the table.  
  
"So what are we doing tomorrow?" Freddy heard Katie say from behind him.  
  
"Um... movie I guess,"Freddy answered, hoping that no one they knew would be at the theatre.  
  
"Cool. When?"  
  
"I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing tomorrow yet. I'll call you tomorrow sometime, kay?"  
  
"Yeah okay." And with that Katie turned down a cross hall and headed off to her first class of the afternoon.  
  
Freddy watched her walking away for a moment before jogging down the main hallway to catch up with Zack and Claire who had gotten ahead of him and Katie. When he finally caught up with them he decided to try and do what Zack had told him to and talk to Claire more.  
  
"So Claire, what are your friends like?"  
  
"They're really nice."  
  
"Oh yeah? Cool. What are their names again?"  
  
"Julie and Carly."  
  
"Right. So what kind of stuff are they into?"  
  
"Um... Carly plays baseball and um... she's into a bunch of different stuff. Then Julie likes pretty much any sport that has lots of action and she's a big movie person. Oh and she really likes Greenday."  
  
"She likes Greenday?!"  
  
"Yeah... what's wrong with that?"  
  
"Nothing's wrong with that. I love Greenday! And I thought they'd be big los..."  
  
"Oh look here's our calculus class Freddy," Zack said interrupting Freddy before he got into another fight with Claire. "Later babe," he said to Claire giving her a goodbye kiss that was just a little longer than necessary before heading into the room after Freddy.  
  
"This is going to be quite interesting tonight," Freddy thought as he took his seat in the middle of the room. Today they were supposed to be working on this huge package of worksheets but Freddy ended up only thinking of what would happen tonight.  
  
"Carly sounds pretty boring. I mean baseball. Got to be one of the most boring sports ever invented. But Julie sounds cool, she's got to be if she likes Greenday," Freddy thought to himself. Just then the bell rang and Freddy realised he'd spent the entire class thinking about these two new girls. He grabbed his bag and followed Zack out of the room.  
  
"Later Mooney," he called after Zack who had turned left and was already halfway down the hall, anxious to see Claire again.  
  
"Bye Fred!" Zack shouted back.  
  
With that Freddy turned right and headed off to his next class. "God, "he thought, "it's going to be hell getting through the rest of the day!" 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
Katie's POV  
  
"I wonder what Freddy's doing tonight," Katie thought to herself as she walked down the hall after saying bye to Freddy after lunch. "He didn't exactly sound sure of what he was doing. Maybe I'll go by his house tonight and see if he needs any help doing whatever he has to do..."  
  
With that she headed into her English class where she listened to Mrs. Kilgour drone on about Romeo and Juliet for the whole period until the bell rang and finally saved her from her misery. Her day continued in this way until the final bell rang and she went to her locker to grab her stuff before going home. She was already dreading tonight. There was never anyone to do anything with. Summer walked by just as she was leaving and Katie thought she might as well see if she could do something.  
  
"Summer!"  
  
"Hey Katie. Haven't seen you for awhile. What's up?"  
  
"Nothing really. I was wondering if you wanted to come hang out at my house tonight. Rent a movie or something?"  
  
"I guess. But only if I can bring my homework. I've got so much to do this weekend."  
  
"Um... sure. Come over around 6pm, okay?"  
  
"Okay. See you then."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Katie turned away from Summer and started walking towards her house.  
  
---------- Later That Night ----------  
  
Freddy's POV  
  
It was now 7:30pm and Freddy was trying to find any junk food in the cupboards of his huge kitchen. His parents were health freaks so there wasn't usually anything but he'd managed to find a couple bags of chips and a bag of fat free pretzels. He brought them down to the basement where he figured they'd all hang out and turned on his wide screen T.V. Sitting back on the couch he flipped through the channels until he found That 70's Show and started watching.  
  
Just as it was ending he heard the doorbell ring so he dragged himself up off the couch and went to answer it. Standing on his front step were Zack, Claire, and two girls he'd never seen before. One had blond curly hair that was pulled back into a messy bun and was wearing a pink t-shirt with jeans. The other had dark brown hair that was slightly wavy and came down just below her shoulders. She was wearing an aqua blue halter top and jeans. "Wow," thought Freddy. "They are hot!" This was going to be some night. 


	5. Chapter 5

flatfoot-92, LCJ, and mel15 – thanks a lot! Sorry I haven't updated for a while but I've been really really really busy. Hope you guys like this next one.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Freddy's POV  
  
"Hey Freddy," he heard Zack say.  
  
"Hi Freddy," Claire said. "Okay so these are Carly and Julie."  
  
"Hi," said Carly, the blonde one. She seemed pretty shy to Freddy and he thought he'd have a hard time getting to know her.  
  
"What's up?" Julie, the brunette, asked. Freddy thought she was the prettier of the two, definitely more outgoing and daring. More his kind of girl.  
  
"Hey you guys. Nice to meet you two. Come on him," Freddy replied to all of them.  
  
They all trooped into Freddy's house and Zack led everyone down to the basement. Freddy was about to follow when he heard the doorbell ring again so he turned around, opened it and saw Frankie, Anna, and Leonard standing on his front porch.  
  
"Hey guys," he said.  
  
He brought them down to the basement where Zack had found Freddy's X-box and had put on a game of Halo. Except he was the only one playing as the girls were sitting on the couch eating some chips and looking quite bored.  
  
"Um... Zack?"  
  
"Yea Freddy?"  
  
"Why don't we watch a movie or something... no one else really wants to play."  
  
"Argh I guess."  
  
"So what do you guys want to see? I've got Black Hawk Down, first and second Lord of the Rings, Remember the Titans, SWAT, and 007 down here."  
  
His response was a bunch of mumbled "I don't cares". From what Freddy could see, Claire and Anna's friends didn't really want to be here and had only come along at the request of the two girls. "This completely blows," he thought to himself. No one seemed to be having fun or even trying to talk to each other.  
  
"Okay then... I guess we'll go with SWAT then."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"I don't care."  
  
Freddy put in the DVD and sat back on the couch between Zack and one of Claire's friends. The brunette. He'd forgotten her name already. He looked around at everyone else. Zack and Claire were nearly on top of each other, they were sitting so close together. Anna was on top of Frankie in the big arm chair, Leonard was on the floor leaning against the couch, and the other girl was on the other side of Zack and Claire.  
  
--------- An hour later --------  
  
The movie was just getting good but Freddy had seen it so many times he'd been bored after the first five minutes. Looking around again both couples were majorly making out, Zack and Claire having somehow moved onto the floor in the corner of the room. Leonard was half asleep on the floor and the blond "Carly I think" was looking the same way on the other end of the couch. He looked at Julie sitting next to him. "She really is pretty," he thought to himself. She was the only one who actually seemed interested in the movie although it could have had something to do with the fact Colin Farrell was now running down the beach in a muscle tank. Her features weren't perfect or anything but there was something about her that drew him to her. At that moment her head turned sideways and her dark brown eyes stared into his.  
  
"Where's the bathroom?" she asked.  
  
"Oh um..." Freddy had been so lost in looking at her he hadn't realised she was talking to him. "It's hard to explain. Here I'll show you."  
  
The two got up off the couch and walked upstairs into his front hall. He took her down the long hall, turned off into another passage, walked to the end of it and down a short flight of stairs before turning left, walking some more, and stopping in front of a white door.  
  
"Wow. That really was complicated," Julie (he remembered her name now) said.  
  
Freddy laughed. "I told you. Will you be able to find your way back alright?"  
  
"Honestly? Probably not," she replied with a short laugh.  
  
"Okay. Want me to wait then?"  
  
"If you don't mind." And with that she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.  
  
"Man she's hot!" Freddy thought as he leant against the wall waiting for her. "Funny too. Maybe tonight will turn out okay after all."  
  
Julie's POV  
  
On the other side of the door, Julie had finished peeing and was looking at herself in the mirror. She hadn't really wanted to come tonight but ever since Anna and Claire had started dating Zack and Frankie, her and Carly had barely seen them. The main reason for her coming tonight was basically to hang out with them more, but that plan seemed to be failing as they'd had their faces smashed onto their boyfriends the whole time.  
  
"On the plus side, Freddy seems pretty cute," she thought to herself. "No. I can't think that. Claire warned me he's a huge player already." But another part of her was saying, "This would mean I'd get to hang out with Anna and Claire a lot more. We could triple date and stuff. That'd be pretty cool." She walked out of the bathroom and saw Freddy standing there waiting, looking really hot.  
  
"You ready?" he asked her.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
She followed him back up the stairs and down the numerous halls. "I guess I can have a little fun," she thought.  
  
"So Freddy... tell me something about you." There, at least she was trying.  
  
"Um... I'm a drummer."  
  
"Really? That's so cool."  
  
"Ya think?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Cool. Want to hear me play something?"  
  
"Sure, why not." Better than trying to look interested in that crappy movie, she thought.  
  
Freddy led her down some different hallways instead of back to the basement and up a huge set of spiral stairs. He took her into a room with a black door. She stopped, stunned for a second as soon as she stepped into the room. It was completely opposite from the rest of the house which looked like it had come out of a magazine. The walls and ceiling were painted black. Posters plastered most of the wall space and in the middle of the room was a drum set. She didn't really know anything about drums other than they looked pretty fun to play.  
  
"Wow," was all she managed to say.  
  
"You like?"  
  
"Yeah, I like."  
  
"You can sit down over there," Freddy said pointing to a black leather couch pushed up against one of the walls.  
  
Julie walked over and sat down while Freddy walked over to the drum set and sat down behind it. He started out slow and worked his way up to some crazy sets. After 5 minutes or so he got up and sat down next to her on the couch.  
  
"He looks so sexy when he plays!" was all that was going through Julie's mind.  
  
"So, you play anything?" he asked her.  
  
"No. Well piano but only cause my parents make me."  
  
"Oh that sucks."  
  
"I always wanted to play drums though."  
  
"Really? I might just have to show you some time then."  
  
"Cool," she murmured. She was staring right into his chocolate brown eyes, lost in her thoughts. They were both leaning a bit towards each other without realising it. Slowly, she let her eyelids droop close as she leant forward a bit more... 


End file.
